The Wonders of Tumeric

 Photo from the Internet



If you are new to the wonders of Tumeric then there is more to this healing herb than meets the palate.
You've probably heard of this exotic sounding spice, found mostly in Eastern recipes, so perhaps you have not had the chance to try it.
Aside from its growing popularity as a cooking herb world wide these days, Tumeric is also known to be one of Nature's most powerful healing herbs. The root of the plant is somewhat similar in appearance to ginger although well recognised by its bright yellow root; it is typically dried & used as a seasoning, most commonly in Indian dishes, but it can now be more readily found in selected Supermarkets & Health Food shops in its fresh form. Internally ingested or outwardly absorbed, Tumeric is a benefit packed wonder herb & can help keep you healthy inside & out. This savoury herb contains a bevy of health benefits including reducing inflammation in the body & assisting the brain to continue functioning efficiently well into old age.
The bright yellow colour has been known to put some people off using Tumeric as it is well known to stain clothes mercilessly with the slightest drip or splash! An Indian lady once told me to wash the clothing item as usual & lie on the grass to dry & the stain will disappear.......well she is right, it does work brilliantly, so there is no need to be concerned about possible unsightly stains.
My constant reminder continues however......I strongly believe, through personal experience, that including emotional work in any desire for an extraordinary & healthy life is a vital component & swallowing all the herbs, pills & even great food that God provides for our wellbeing in Nature, is only part of any solution. Honouring the sacredness & gift of life through keeping our bodies healthy & nutritionally supplied with natural whole foods is part of this challenge, but as an example, will not help too much if we are angry, resentful, non forgiving & without compassion, gratitude & love.
In our household, I add a little Tumeric to some soups & stir fries, dips, curries & veggie dishes. I find it does not have a particularly strong flavour if used in moderation so there is an opportunity to add it to many recipes as an additional part of any diet. I think it would be fair to say however, that I tend to leave it out of recipes when entertaining guests, but this is really not necessary & purely a personal choice I make. I find it does turn the dish yellow without too much encouragement, so in some instances this may need to be considered if presentation is taken into account!



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Cherie Soria's Healthy Tips

I am one of Cherie's greatest admirers; she owns the Living Light Culinary Institute where I trained some years ago as a Raw Food Chef & she always breaks knowledge down so simply, so anyone can understand at a glance how best to look after our bodies; I thought you might like to consider some of her dietary suggestions, those healthy choices to include in your diet, and those, when regularly consumed, are more likely to lead to health issues as time goes by. Each & every mouthful is creating & maintaining our bodies, so wisdom is called for if we wish to stay away from Doctors & live a long & healthy life.
Here are Cherie's guidelines.






There are of course additional factors, other than food, affecting our health, stress being one of them along with unhealed & suppressed emotions; the latter plays a big role & we see this with childhood damage being carried into adulthood & affecting lives in many ways when not addressed.

Close your Eyes & Imagine

This Blog is somewhat out of the ordinary for me, as I don't usually write so much about any subject, but I hope you will bear with me as I feel it is so important to share some recent revelations.
Jesus & Mary recently pointed out to our family some very alarming & confronting insights about how we have used animals to support our livelihood & accumulate wealth, whilst at the same time being quite happy to have them eventually mercilessly slaughtered or sold on to other farmers perpetuating the meat industry. Some of our family members are actually Vegans whilst others are Vegetarians, so there is definitely something hypocritical & very wrong here! This confrontational conversation has brought about a number of things including emotional mayhem and delving further into our acceptance in the past of how animals are treated once they leave our farm. "Why would we want to be part of such a atrocious industry" has lead us down a dark tunnel of shame & remorse.

Please forgive me if I appear to be standing on a podium right now, but this alarming realisation led me further to read Will Tuttle's insightful yet horrifying book "The World Peace Diet" & I must say it has had a profound & sickening affect on me.....anyone still Eating Meat or lingering between being a Vegan or a Vegetarian (not Eating Meat or Fish but still eating Dairy & Eggs) might care to take a look at this book if they desire to be a true Environmentalist & make a real difference in the World.
I first must make it very clear, that I have been part of a farming family all of my life, I ate meat 3 times a day as a child, & have been regrettably responsible for propagating & earning a living from animals & the meat industry most of my life in some form or other. I do not wish to now become an enraged Vegan, judging others & the atrocities going on in the animal world, as I feel this would be nothing short of hypocritical in my case, but I do believe it is only through education & wanting to know the dark secrets held in Animal Agriculture, that real change can begin to take place. "Wanting to Know & getting out of Denial" is only the 1st step as Jesus pointed out, understanding the whole picture over & above including the choices we place on our dinner plate, will all contribute towards many taking action, emotionally, ethically & morally as well as for better health, a peaceful Planet & a more joyful World honouring & supporting all of Creation.
I have been Vegetarian on & off for many years, 15 years back in the 90's & 5 years recently, but I have still eaten eggs & dairy when the recipe includes them & I am a "dinner guest", or when emotions kick in & I wish to stuff them down with a dairy delight or a milk coffee as an example! Giving up dairy has been particularly hard, I have found it is totally addictive & is closely related to perceived childhood nurturing for me....I have failed over & over in my efforts as I have been unwilling to engage the process emotionally. I have thought of every reason why it was & wasn't that important in the scheme of things....it's like when you are looking for a green car, all you see are green cars, & all I wanted to see was information supporting my choices! "My body needs the protein when I'm not eating meat" , "it makes it impossible to go out to dinner" " I will be judged as a loony",  "vegan choices are so limiting & I don't know what to cook"  etc etc, has kept me in my addiction & fear of being judged by others.
After so many conversational revelations & then reading Will's book I can see how blind I have wanted to be to my chosen actions, both on & off the farm & how much I have not wanted to address my emotional baggage, grief & shame or even look at the far reaching ramifications of my actions & why I convinced myself it was all OK. My pride & arrogance in believing I loved animals & the Planet & thought I was an environmentalist having saved water, planted trees, switched off lights, recycled home commodities etc, has finally caught up with me & I have needed not only some deep reflection, but also many emotional realisations. The interconnectedness between how we treat animals by eating them & stealing their eggs & the milk from their babies, is totally reflected back to us in humanity & yet so few are willing to see the connection.
I will not go into further detail but I hope you will see the connection between this blog & my passion for food, what we choose to put on our plates, & how we treat animals.
The current state of the World & Humanity is a total reflection & result of our past & current actions. Our dismay at the ongoing wars & terrorist activities, the rage & unloving behaviour that is so prevalent in many of us, the horror of how many women & children are treated so appallingly, the deteriorating health of Nations, the materialism & consumerism particularly of the West, the starvation & homelessness of many, the loss of our rainforests, water resources & animal species, & endless other issues that flood our World, do offer an opportunity for immediate action. The right action will eventually bring about solutions when enough of the World's population says "enough is enough"; by changing our false beliefs & demands & emotional disconnectedness from all life including one another, we can contribute towards the challenge in one small way as an example,  "one bite at a time" through what we purchase and what we put on our plate. People Power is worth remembering & keeping in mind that "As we sow, so we Reap".
I do hope some of you may be drawn to read Will's book, " The World Peace Diet" ( available from Amazon & most outlets) and that you are perhaps drawn to share it with others.

"Seeing our eating habits for what they are, and answering the call of our spirit to understand the consequences of our actions, we become open to compassion, intelligence, freedom, and to living the truth of our interconnectedness with all life. There is an enormously positive revolution implicit in this, a spiritual transformation that can potentially launch our culture into a quantum evolutionary leap, from emphasizing consumption, domination, and self-preoccupation to nurturing creativity, liberation, inclusion, and cooperation.”

~ The World Peace Diet, Dr. Will Tuttle

Point of View

By Shel Silverstein

Thanksgiving dinner’s sad and thankless,

Christmas dinner’s dark and blue,

When you stop and try to see it

From the turkey’s point of view.

Sunday dinner isn’t sunny

Easter feasts are just bad luck,

When you see it from the viewpoint

Of the chicken or the duck.

Oh, how I once loved tuna salad,

Pork and lobster, lamb chops, too,

Till I stopped and looked at dinner

 From this other point of view.

Jesus & Mary's teachings can be viewed and explored on www.divinetruth.com

Vegan Substitutes.....Let's give them a Try!

One of the most difficult parts of any transition from a traditional diet to a plant based diet is knowing how to retain flavour & what substitutes work equally well in any recipe; I have been amazed how substitutes work so well & there is no sense of deprivation when choosing a healthy recipe over one containing dairy products, eggs, wheat, meat & many grains. Here are just a few you might like to try.



Substitute   Dairy Milk          with nut milks or coconut milk. Almond milk is creamy & light,           
                                               coconut milk imparts the richest flavour but has a coconut flavour
 
                   Buttermilk           1 cup of nut milk plus 1 tab lemon juice or 1 tab vinegar
 
                   Cheese                 Nutritional Yeast has a cheesy flavour, otherwise make vegan nut
                                                                                                                                         cheese

                   Cream                 Pop a tin of coconut cream in the refrigerator  for an hour, then whip
                                              or soak cashew nuts & blend until creamy adding a little water


                   Gelatine              1 tea gelatine powder =  1 tea powdered agar agar ( dissolve in hot
                                                                                                                                      liquid)
                   Chocolate           Cacao takes chocolate to a whole new level of healthiness! Try some in
                                              in the recipe below for "Choccie Wonders"!

                   Butter                When baking beat  3 parts coconut oil + 1 part water to substitute butter
                                             Or use olive oil/ macadamia or coconut oil for frying

                   Meat                  Mushrooms & dishes with mushrooms are delicious & great for burgers
                                             as a substitute for the meat; walnuts are also used in many ways.
                 
                  Fish Sauce         Add some dulse to Apple Cider Vinegar

                   1 egg                 Use 3 tab apple or sweet potato puree or 3 tab whisked silken tofu
                                             To bind a recipe, 2 tab cornflour or tapioca flour + 2 tab water
                                             If too wet....add 2 tab flour or breadcrumbs or oats or tomato paste

                   2 eggs or more 1 Seed egg = 1tab seeds ( chia/flax/linseed) +3 tab warm water
                                            or for each egg replace with 1/2 mashed banana or 3 tab apple sauce or
                                            sweet potato puree or non dairy yogurt

                 If baking a cake For lighter results, add 1/2 tea baking powder extra
                 If egg heavy like quiche  Thicken with whipped tofu mixed with a little chickpea flour

                 Spaghetti           Using a spiraliser or a veggie peeler, zucchini or carrot  noodles replaces
                                            wheat flour in most noodle products beautifully; other substitutes for 
                                            white flour recipes you can use almond meal, cauliflower for pizza bases,
                                            lettuce cups to replace white flour tortillas, quinoa to replace white rice.
         RECIPE

        "Choccie Wonders"...... A dark chocolate treat to nourish your body & is simply Delish! 
                                                  A great alternative to those milky Easter Bunnies in stores now.

• 1/3 cup dried coconut chunks/shreds
• 1/3 cup cashews
• 1-2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 2-3 tablespoons honey/maple syrup/agave
• 1 teaspoons peppermint oil
• Pinch of salt

Chocolate Layer

• 1-2 tabs of melted coconut oil
• 1/3 cup cacao powder
• 4-5 tabs maple syrup or honey
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 tea cinnamon & cayenne

Method 

1. Blend all ingredients together until smooth. 
2. Pat into flattened discs with your hands and place them in the freezer to set for around 30 minutes.
3. Process all ingredients from the chocolate layer together until smooth.
4. Dip each minty disc in the chocolate sauce and watch them harden almost immediately!